Teen accused of overpass death faces more charges

Tuesday

Jul 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 31, 2007 at 2:59 PM

A 15-year-old boy, already facing murder charges for allegedly throwing a concrete patio block off an interstate overpass and killing a passing motorist, was charged Monday with attacking a jogger in the West Bluff. Rakiem Campbell, 717 W. Armstrong Ave., appeared in the juvenile division of Peoria County Circuit Court on two charges of aggravated battery for the July 10 beating. He is also facing two counts of arson and one count of burglary for allegedly setting a car on fire earlier this month.

Andy Kravetz

A 15-year-old boy, already facing murder charges for allegedly throwing a concrete patio block off an interstate overpass and killing a passing motorist, was charged Monday with attacking a jogger in the West Bluff.

Rakiem Campbell, 717 W. Armstrong Ave., appeared in the juvenile division of Peoria County Circuit Court on two charges of aggravated battery for the July 10 beating. He is also facing two counts of arson and one count of burglary for allegedly setting a car on fire earlier this month.

Little about the new charges came out at the hearing. Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Spokely said his office had filed motions to move both cases to adult court. A hearing on that motion is set for Aug. 10.

Campbell allegedly was part of a group that attacked a 19-year-old Washington man running in the 1000 block of Columbia Terrace. The man, nearing the end of his run, sprinted ahead of his friends only to encounter several people standing on the sidewalk at Columbia Terrace and Garfield Street, police said previously.

To avoid them, the victim ran into the street. All he remembered next was being placed in a head lock, according to Journal Star archives. His friends drove him to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

Campbell also faces charges in the July 14 death of Katrina Kelley.

Prosecutors had previously said Campbell was headed home from a party early that morning when he and another boy allegedly decided to pick up two concrete patio blocks, walk 150 feet to the Broadway Street bridge over Interstate 74 and wait for a car to pass by.

The boys positioned themselves to face the westbound lanes and waited. Campbell allegedly heaved the block over a fence along the bridge, and it struck the car in which Kelley was riding.